


Compass North

by Triskaidekalogue



Series: HSO 2011 ficbits [4]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Ficbit, Post-Sburb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-13
Updated: 2011-10-13
Packaged: 2017-10-24 14:20:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/264459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Triskaidekalogue/pseuds/Triskaidekalogue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which a lost seer meditates on the entrails of her mother's legacy and fails to divine a path.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Compass North

**Author's Note:**

> A snippet written for lj user blowfishtmt's [soundtrack](http://hs-olympics.livejournal.com/9563.html?thread=1433691#t1433691) in HSO Bonus Round 2B.

Rose still went down to the laboratory sometimes. Of course, none of the equipment worked any more; Rose suspected her mother had implemented some kind of dead man's handle. Exactly what it was she was so pressed to keep secret from her own daughter, Rose could never guess. She was sure, though, that there were other rooms. Labs within labs. Sancta sanctorum, sealed upon their mistress's demise.

"Rose? Are you in there again?"

Jade. The squeak of shoes on metal rungs reached Rose's ears, faintly. Soon there was a soft thump, and footsteps coming closer and closer. Rose didn't move from the bed.

"Oh, Rose."

Her field of vision went dark as a curtain of disheveled black hair swung over her. Familiar hands, thin and brown and chapped from sun and wind, pulled most of it back; Jade was peering down at her anxiously. She looked back up. "Hello, Jade. Your knowledge of my haunts seems only to have improved over time."

"Well, it's always here or your mom's bedroom, so... you're not making it very hard for me." Jade sighed. "I'm not sure if this is good for you." Her hand swept over the powder-blue dresser, the twee cats and curlicues, somehow encompassing a _this_ that was more than objects in space. "Coming here. Does it help?"

"We've had this conversation before," Rose said, closing her eyes for a moment. "My questions to you remain the same: Do you think you could stop me from returning to this place? Do you think I could?"

The twist of Jade's lips answered for her.

"You must have known from the beginning," she said. "You never extended an invitation for me to move to your own home, as John did. How much did you see?"

"Less than I do now," said Jade, and let the fingertips of one hand ghost over Rose's cheek. "I know you need this," she added quietly, "but you're drifting. That makes me worry."

Rose considered this.

"Anchor me, then."

She said it like a challenge, but Jade hesitated, so she clutched her way up Jade's arm; pulled her down for a brief, hard kiss.

"Keep me here."

Jade ended up curled beside and around Rose on the musty pink-and-white sheets, tangled with her as close as a human body could go. Once, Rose thought, she would have found it all quite Freudian, and amusingly morbid: the pair of young lovers trysting in a dead mother's girlhood bed. But that girl was submerged. Reduced to watery whispered comments, echoing in the back of her skull.


End file.
